Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Dave Swift is in the photograph above dressed in authentic attire based off of the illustration by Dutch artist Lucas de Heere circa 1577. Photo courtesy of the lovely and very talented Irish photographer Niamh O Rourke. The helmet is a German made morion comb type which was very typical to Gaelic warriors of the era. The sword in the photo is a two handed Claoímh Mór, which was the preferred weapon of the Redshanks.

(above) A copy of the original de Heere drawing from the 1570s. The original was lost in a fire in the 1700s. The illustration interesting for several reasons, the use of short trews being one. There has been speculation that the bottom helm line of the short trews on the copy of the original illustration was added in Victorian times for modesty sake and that the original illustration was of the Redshank naked from the waste down. However, a close examination of the copy does show material and shading of the the short trews. The illustration is what it appears to be, a type of short pants, or trews, that were in fashion among Gaels at this time.

Laggan Redshanks

click to purchase

Ulster Heritage Book Shop

The Stewarts of Ballintoy

To Purchase click on book

A Request

Please patronize the advertisements on the Redshank blog as they keep the blog up and running and allow news and information to be posted. By clicking on and using our advertisements you help the Redshank blog. Many thanks agus go raibh maith agaibh.

Visitors

Redshank

The Redshank will feature articles on the history and legacy of Argyll and Islands Scots circa 1200 to the present. The blog will feature DNA results that are leading to a better understanding of clan and family kinship groups in Argyll and the Islands.

The Redshank blog will also focus on Gaels from Argyll and the southern Hebrides that migrated to Ireland circa 1450 to the early 1600s. They are part of the Ulster Scot community, yet differ in some regards. They were Gaelic speaking and have both Presbyterian and Catholic backgrounds. The main areas of settlement were north Antrim and east Donegal. They remain there today and their descendants also participated in the Ulster Migration to Colonial America and Canada in the 1700s and 1800s. They became part of the Scots-Irish community in the New World.

The Redshank settlements in Ulster have not been studied in depth in the past. Their history is often overshadowed by the large influx of Scots that migrated to Ulster during the Plantation. This blog will make their interesting history better known and show how they fit into the Ulster Scot story.